Friday, November 07, 2008

For those of you that have been trapped in a closet somewhere, Prop 8 is the biggest, hatingest, vilest prop ever in the state of California, and that’s saying a lot.Because we’ve had some crazy-assprops, y’all.

Unfortunately, the high voter turnout for Barack Obama in African-American communities may have contributed to the success of Prop 8, since approximately 70% of black voters favored 8, compared to roughly 50% in other demographics.

Yeah, I know.Nothing like the achievement of a civil rights milestone to inspire people to…deny others their civil rights. It’s so full-on ironic that even Alanis Morissette couldn’t miss it.

I am completely stumped as to why, in a town full of the most creative, savvy, politically active, and – hello! – richest gay people on the face of the earth, why did the “Yes on 8” side so completely outspend, outcreate and outexecute us?What the fuck happened, people?Was the election too close to Halloween?Were you distracted?Did the acquisition of that snowmachine for your First Dude costume take up way more time than you thought it would?Why did I see 15 thousand “Yes” commercials on television, but never this commercial, which is fucking brilliant and makes one of the most politically marketable arguments there is for the “No” side, which is, if you don’t care about the rights of gay people, and many douchebags don’t, then perhaps you care that the Mormon church, which financed and organized the “Yes” campaign, is now dictating policy to us!

Dude, we’re Califuckinfornia!We don’t let the squares tell us what to do! We should be kicking their ass, see, because California is like Dee Snider, and the Mormons are like that uptight asshole in the video who gets blown out the window by our awesomeness.

Fucking Mormons.You know, they do have a whole state of their own to fuck up and hate people in, why do they have to come here and start this shit with us? Well, apparently, their big motivation for backing the measure was to earn street cred from the other Jesus freaks, so that the evangelicals and Catholics will see how effective they are at oppressing gays, and stop ostracizing Mormons from their gay hating parties.

I tried to think of some way to get revenge on them, but all I could think of was for the HBO series “Big Love” to continue to present Bill Paxton as the ultimate expression of Mormon manhood. I mean, that’s pretty humiliating, right?

Okay, I’ve heard so many stupifyingly nonsensical arguments from the “Yes” side that my brain has a tendency to lock and freeze whenever I get around this topic. I mean, what do you say to someone who keeps insisting that they have nothing against gay people, and of course some of their best friends blah blah blah, and yet they insist that it’s God’s will that gay people do not deserve the rights that they themselves possess? What do you say when that same person is black, or Latina? Look, you cannot respect gays and also disenfranchise them.You just can’t. How exactly do you convey that their position is perhaps the most idiotic one taken in the entire history of idiotic positions?

The commercials for Prop 8 all entreated the voters to “restore” traditional marriage.

Restore?Restore?Is it gone?Did it go away?If you believe it did, perhaps you should look inside your own heart, and your own head, and leave the rest of us alone. The sanctity of your marriage, whatever the fuck that means, is determined by you and your spouse, and gay people got fuck all to do with it.

Not only that, but the biblical support for a ban on gay rights is scant and vague, and if you’ve ever bothered to look it up, you know what I’m saying is true.If anything, the Bible recommends treating others as you would have yourself treated, and it says so pretty plainly, so don’t come to me with your “I’m a Christian!” arguments, because they’re horseshit, and we both know it. If the thought of gays marrying invokes revulsion in you, examine yourself.Disgust of gays, and fear of gays and hatred of gays is a weakness. It is a weakness within you.It is self-delusion.It is a failure of character, and I pity anyone who suffers from it, because it cripples you, it makes you mean and small and not worthy of the respect of your fellow humans, let alone the love of that God that you pretend to care so much about.

13 comments:

It totally WAS gratifying, seeing the LA Times pic of people protesting in front of the Mormon temple just down the street from WeHo. Those LDS deserve all they get and then some. I think the church (cult?) was just trying to prove to the Republicans that they still had some muscle and shouldn't be ignored.

Much blame for Prop. 8 belongs on the Latino community. There were so many ads on Spanish-language radio and TV, I'm sure many fell for the crap.

Religion thrives on our reptilian brain fears like death, lonliness, homosexuality et al. AS philsopher Pascal said, "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction."

Full maturity as a person comes when fears are faced and examined using courage and reason to free oneself from them. Only then can responsibility for oneself be fully achieved.

And the independence then felt opens souls and moves them into the light.

The past 8 years has been constantbarrage of seduction and appeal to our dark side. I hope the restraints religion places on us are set aside as we move into the future. I would like to see a better America in my life time. I am hopeful.

This is America and I seem to remember reading somewhere that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." but perhaps the Mormons don't read the same things I do.

I say gay marriage comes under the heading of "pursuit of happiness" and therefore should be protected, regardless of what religion you do or don't subscribe to.

Perhaps it is short sighted of me, but wouldn't the millions of dollars that were spent and the countless manhours that it took to deny this particular group of citizens their rights have been put to better use in a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, an orphanage, a battered women's shelter, or making care packages for our troops over seas. I don't know about their God, but mine teaches me to love my fellow man and help him out when I can, not to cheat them of the rights and respect they deserve.

I also read one time that even the Devil can quote scripture, and perhaps I'll leave it at that.

Randy: Many ads were target at the Latino community, however, I understand that they voted about 50-50, same as whites. The thing about Latino culture, at least in LA, is that even though they are heavily Catholic, they always have insisted on making Catholicism their own, and maintaining a lot of independence from Rome. Rome had huge opportunity to bring them in closer by choosing a Latino Pope, but they decided to go with the right-wing ex-Nazi instead. Their loss.

this just proves that the religious whack jobs and other assorted bigots and hate mongers still have a lot of influence in this country ---- and this electoral defeat is only going to get them nastier - and richer

one of the big unspoken legacies of the bush administration is the stacking of the federal courts over the past 8 years --- with lifetime posts (not the supreme court but the 13 appellate courts -- which hear 10,000 cases to the Supremes 90).

Not all Catholics are anti-gay. Too many of them are and as a practicing Catholic that saddens me. However, I attend the cathedral of Washington, DC (right in Dupont Circle, a heavily gay neighborhood) and we have a group dedicated to gay and lesbian ministry, called "Always Our Children." I admit I've never attended a meeting, but I'm glad that we have an outreach effort to this community. I've had gay friends who were practicing Catholics. I've also had gay friends who were made to feel rejected by church members or clergy. Catholics usually go within a few percentage points of 50-50 in any given election and we don't vote as a block on much of anything.